taz71 wrote:It is a really good price and takes some pressure off our young defenseman

The Pens need to learn to trust their young players not continue to push them further down the depth chart. Not saying that they still can't do that with Scuderi here but it certainly doesn't give you the impression that they are going to.

SubtropicalPenguin wrote:So, with Scuderi back we now have 20 players under contract and about 750k in cap space remaining. Generally, teams go into the season with 23 players on the active roster. However, according to NHL.com, the minimum roster is 20 players, composed of 18 skaters and two goaltenders.

Any chance we go with maybe 21 or 22 players to save against the cap? That seems risky, but as it stands right now we can only afford 1 more contract. Looks like someone is going to have to be moved before the start of the season.

the Pens have a little more than $1.3M in space. I also suspect Niskanen could be on his way out.

I agree with a lot of what I've read in this thread, namely: - Nisky will be traded - Orpik either won't be back when his contract is up or Martin becomes trade bait next year. - I hate not giving the prized young D guys time but 82 games is a long season and injuries are going to happen. I think we will see several of these guys getting decent PT next year. - I wasn't a huge Scuds fan before, but I like what I saw in LA and think he is a huge upgrade over the current roster. He can play a ton of minutes without making costly mistakes.

I also expect to see the Pens choose Orpik over Niskanen even though, to me, it's a mystifying decision.

Apart from a rough end to this season, Niskanen has been better than Orpik since his arrival. The former is stepping into his own while the latter has been on the decline for years now. Niskanen's next contract should be reasonable as his body of work is still meager. The physicality with which everyone so quickly defenses Orpik is rather worthless when it continually costs the team penalties and goals against. That $1.5m difference in cap hit could certainly come in handy at the deadline.

So, yeah, a blindingly obvious decision I expect the Pens to completely whiff on almost solely out of loyalty.

jmh470 wrote:I also expect to see the Pens choose Orpik over Niskanen even though, to me, it's a mystifying decision.

Apart from a rough end to this season, Niskanen has been better than Orpik since his arrival. The former is stepping into his own while the latter has been on the decline for years now. Niskanen's next contract should be reasonable as his body of work is still meager. The physicality with which everyone so quickly defenses Orpik is rather worthless when it continually costs the team penalties and goals against. That $1.5m difference in cap hit could certainly come in handy at the deadline.

So, yeah, a blindingly obvious decision I expect the Pens to completely whiff on almost solely out of loyalty.

Never know, Orpik could be looking for a payday on what could be his final big contract. Maybe he gets traded, knowing that we can't offer what he might want, with term.

Or, he may be happy to ride into the sunset here and not look for big dough. I like Brooks and really value his skating. Sure he comes with some holes, but I'd still like to keep him.

jmh470 wrote:I also expect to see the Pens choose Orpik over Niskanen even though, to me, it's a mystifying decision.

Apart from a rough end to this season, Niskanen has been better than Orpik since his arrival. The former is stepping into his own while the latter has been on the decline for years now. Niskanen's next contract should be reasonable as his body of work is still meager. The physicality with which everyone so quickly defenses Orpik is rather worthless when it continually costs the team penalties and goals against. That $1.5m difference in cap hit could certainly come in handy at the deadline.

So, yeah, a blindingly obvious decision I expect the Pens to completely whiff on almost solely out of loyalty.

Kings fan next to me says he is sad to see a player that played like he didn't care about highlights go. Offered advice that Scuds should tell to the Pens that are still here from the Cup year: See the second ring? Team play gets you that. Let's go get it.

I just hope people keep this in perspective and realize Scuds is the #4 d-man in the depth chart as Letang, Martin, and Orpik logged more minutes on average per game than Scuds did last year. Additionally Scuds routinely was trapped in his own zone when here as a penguin due to lack of skating and passing ability. He's only gotten older and slower since then.

I think it is a good deal for a defensive shot blocking top 4 defenseman. I am sure the Kings would take him back in a heart beat. Better signing overall than Michalek. He is the type of defenseman we have been missing. Plays the type of game that a D doesn't learn till age 29-30 anyway.